The ZPM
by sawchy
Summary: Over ten thousand years ago the crew of the Nona battled a Wraith fleet for the key manufacturing planet of Galinishi. Ten thousand years later in search of the ZPM manufacturing planet comes a team from Atlantis.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Year 82 of the Wraith War

The vast darkness of space swept around the small Lantian Destroyer and seemed to stretch onto the infinite. Its hull was tattered with the blast marks of previous battles and several areas were damaged badly exposing those sections to the extreme vaccum of space. The Nona was smaller then the traditional warships that were used on the frontline, it carried a crew of nearly a hundred Lantians. The Nona cruised along at sublight speed from the heavy battle damage.

First Officer Galeb Krinson stepped into the brightly illuminated engine room of the Nona, the twenty five engineers on board worked frantically to assess the damage done to their ship. Galeb walked over to the Chief Engineer Brant Osirin who layed on his back below working on a conduit with clear crystals and circuits running through it. His white shirt was stained black with all the ash and burnt metal that was scattered across the white floor. Large chunks of metal were scattered across the area and several conduits were charred black.

"Whats the damage?"

Brant pushed himself out from under the conduit and looked up at his superior officer. The young man had dark brown hair and his face was also stained black by the charred metal. Galeb held out his hand and helped the man to his feet, he got up and let out a loud sigh. "Our generator is completely depleted and were running on our batteries."

Galebs face turned grim as he considered the problems with losing their generator. Without it they couldn't take on more then one Wraith ship before their shields were drained and they had to withdraw. "I'm sorry, but we had to engage those Hive ships. We couldn't let them take Galinishi without a fight."

Brant pushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes and looked around the bright white room with black scorch marks scattered across it. His gaze rested on a blood stain on the floor, it was smeared and dried from sitting for so long. "We lost a few people down here, but we think we can give you hyperdrive in less then an hour. We should have our shields restored partly by then too."

"What about our energy weapons and drone launchers?"

"We lost two forward energy weapons, but the other two are still good. Our four rear weapons are still good, but we spent atleast eighty percent of our drones taking out those three Hive ships," he reported pressing several buttons on the console the conduit was connected to. It beeped loudly and gave out a spark.

"We'll return to Atlantis once our hyperdrive is fixed, but try to get those shields working again. I don't want them giving out on us again."

Brant nodded and tried to work the console again, he grumbled loudly when it blinked off and stopped working. Galeb turned and walked out of the engine room, he walked down a bright white corridor thinking to himself as he walked. His right hand rested on his sidearm as he passed several sparking consoles that had pools of blood below them.

He frowned as he thought about the battle the Nona had just barely escaped, they had gone up against seven Hive ships and there escorts. There was a total of eighteen Wraith warships that were attacking the generator manufacturing planet of Galinishi. They had been able to get a generator and connect it to the Nonas power grid moments before the battle had begun. Thanks to the orange glowing device they had been able to defeat three Hive ships and five escorts before they lost the generators power. Within seconds their shields had been overloaded and their hull had been pounded by the ruthless creatures. In the first few hits, consoles had exploded and people were killed by the flying debris. A large peice of flaming debris had been shot out of a workstation and it had hit their Captain in the head killing him within seconds.

After the Captain was gone, Galeb had ordered the ship to open a Hyperspace portal and for them to run as far as they could from the Wraith. The Wraith ships had tried to pursue them but were easily out run by their intergalatic hyperdrive. They had just lost the Wraith when it gave out, their batteries were badly drained and needed recharging. A frown crossed his lips as he walked past a window and saw the debris floating in space from their ship. Another battle lost, he thought to himself.

Since the war had begun over eighty years ago, the Wraith had won victory after victory. The only thing that gave his side, the Lantians, an advantage was their technical superiority over the Wraith. The Wraith kept winning because they travelled together and always fought in numbers instead of one on one combat. With their superior numbers they could just charge forward and overwhelmed the Lantian ships. They had been doing this strategy for eighty years now, millions had died because of them. Not just Lantians but humans and countless other alien species who had been living in this galaxy.

The war was going badly and every Lantain knew it. The Wraith were overwhelming every outpost they had and now only a few dozen still existed. The Wraith now controlled seven eighths of the entire galaxy, soon they would find the cordinates of Atlantis if they didn't find a better way to fight them.

Galeb walked down the scorched hallway and towards the bridge.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Year 82 of the Wraith War

Galeb walked onto the bridge and looked around the tattered room, consoles were blown out and debris was strewn across the floor. He walked to the command chair in the center of the bridge and sat down. Galeb exhaled as he looked around at the other bridge crew members, they tended to their own tasks as several consoles still smoked and their lights flickered. He leaned his head on his arm as he gazed out into space.

"We've got our shields power output back up to thirty percent and our drone launchers are loaded and ready to fire," reported Weapons Officer Hans Keldon.

The man was young as were most officers on Lantian vessels at this point in the war. So many had died in this war, either in brutal firey deaths on their ships or the long tormenting death of having a Wraith feed on you. Either way it was a brutal death that no person deserved no matter what they did. But no matter what, they couldn't give up. They wouldn't give in to their ruthless enemy. With everything they had, the Lantians would fight to the bitter end no matter what happened.

"Good, hows our hyperdrive coming along?"

The man frowned and looked over at the holographic hud at his workstation. "Its still disabled, but Brant says he'll have it fixed within a few minutes."

Galeb nodded and watched the young man walk away and back to his station. The whole wall was charred black by the fire that had errupted their. His station had several scorch marks at it, flames had licked there way up and down the wall where he was sitting. The man manning that station at the time had been burnt alive as the flames engulfed him during the battle. The battle had gone badly for them and even worse for the people they had to leave behind on the planet below. Over two million people were on that planet when they had started the battle with the Wraith fleet. They had to leave them all behind just to escape with their lives. Now they might die in the mass void of space if they got caught by a few Wraith ships and couldn't get their hyperdrive fixed in time.

"Notify me once the hyper drive is fixed, i'll be in the medical bay," ordered Galeb as he got up and walked out of the bridge.

* * *

Galeb walked into the medical bay and saw Dr. Kie Los standing over the bloody body of a man. His shirt and pants were soaked in his own scarlet red blood. She closed her eyes and placed her hands on several of his wounds. A look of pure concentration crossed her face, the mans burns and torn open body began to seal up slowly at her effort. The man opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet, he thanked the doctor and slowly walked out of the medical bay. 

Kie wiped the sweat from her brow and moved onto the next patient, she quickly scanned him with a scanner. A look of relief crossed her face and she began to use a small hand held device to treat him. The device hummed as it treated the internal bleeding of the man she was working on. The device stopped and Kie moved onto the next injured man.

"Doctor," said Galeb as he walked into the medical bay. He stepped over a large pool of red blood on the floor as he walked over to Kie. He frowned as he looked at the large peice of metal jutting out of the next patients chest, it was covered in blood. Blood was draining on the bed and floor below it as it poured out of the mans body.

"Give me a second, I have to get this out of this mans chest right now or we'll lose him."

Galeb frowned as he watched her wave the device over his chest and the skin began to seal up around the metal chunk. She pulled on the metal and it slid out of his chest slightly gushing blood as it did. She continued to slide it out and blood spurted up and onto her white shirt as it finally came out. She quickly waved the device and it sealed up quickly as more blood gushed out and down the mans clothes. Kie walked away from the man and looked at Galeb.

"How many did you manage to save?"

"I saved fourteen out of the twenty nine people who came in here," she reported with a sad look in her eye. "That makes our total casualties at twenty one people."

Galeb frowned as he took in the information, "well good work doctor. Thanks to you it wasn't as bad as it could..."

"Captain?"

Galeb looked up as the internal communication system activated and the voice of Hans Keldon boomed over the speakers. "What is it?"

"Sir, we've got a distress call from the Seti."

Galeb turned and walked out of the medical bay, he walked quickly down the corridor. "Whats their status?"

"They report their underattack by Wraith ships at Galinishi and need assisantance from any friendly ships," replied Hans.

"Tell Brant we need that hyperdrive now," ordered Galeb as he walked to the bridge.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Year 82 of the Wraith War

Galeb walked onto the bridge and looked at Hans Keldon who was standing over the console of the communications officer. They both pressed buttons and tried to restore contact with the Aurora Class warship.

"Whats their status?"

"They'd just taken a few hits from the Wraith ships. They're hyperdrive and sublight engines were knocked out in the first few vollys," reported Hans to his superior.

Galeb reached up and tapped the communicator on his neck, "Brant whats the status on those repairs?" Galeb waited in silence for the engineer to reply.

"Well we just managed to restore power to the generator, it should be operational momentarily," replied the officer in the engine room.

Galeb walked over to the sensor control station, a young woman sat at it running continous scans of the area around the Nona. "Are we within sensor range of Galinishi?" The woman looked up and shook her head in reply.

"We have no choice," said Galeb as he walked and sat in the command chair. "Helm set course for Galinishi, maximum speed."

The ship shook as the Helmsman activated the hyperdrive and opened the hyperspace portal. The spiraling light seemed to reach out to the Nona, drawing it into the bright light. It was like a tear in the very fabric of space, the bright light swirled in the darkness. The Nona was pulled into the portal and began its flight to the planet of Galinishi.

* * *

Galeb stood watching the light swirl around his ship, he knew what might come next. He was taking this ship back into battle against the enemy they had just barely escaped. He knew there was atleast four Wraith hive ships there. Only the ascended knew how many ships had arrived since they had been forced to retreat. 

"Sir, we'll be arriving at Galinishi in a few seconds," reported Hans from his weapons station.

"As soon as we drop out of hyperspace raise shields and ready all weapons. Target the first Wraith ship you detect, don't wait for my order." Hans nodded and watched the clock count down. It slowly seemed to count down as they moved towards the planet.

"Were exiting hyperspace," reported Hans.

Galeb sat back down in his chair and waited for the bright light to disappear and be replaced by the familiar blackness of space. The ship shook slightly and exited hyperspace. Galeb stood as he saw the grey specks orbiting the planet ahead. There were dozens of them, more then there was before.

"Sir we have nine Wraith Hive ships bareing down on us, with four more moving to our position," reported Hans.

"Target an enemy Hive ship and fire," ordered Galeb.

The ship shook as a large beam of light fired out of one of the forward cannons on the front half the ship. The beam cut through one of the large forward compartments on one of the Hive ships and it slowly began to spiral downward trailing flames and sparks. In the exact moment it burst into flaming pieces the Hive ships opened fire.

Blue lasers cut through the dark of space and impacted the shields of the Nona. The energy dispersed itself over the bubble like shield. Hundreds of lasers now zoomed at the Nona, and hit the shields slowly disabling them. The Nona fired again and a laser cut its way through the dorsal section of a Wraith cruiser, fire licked its way out of the large gaping hole. Sparks spread themselves out behind the cruiser as it began to dutch roll towards the planet below.

Galeb grabbed onto an arm rest as the Nona shook from laser blasts. Sparks errupted from a console and it burst into flames, a woman at the station was engulfed in the flames. She fell to the ground and rolled rapidly as the flesh was burned from her body.

"Bring us about, take us into lightspeed!"

"I'm sorry sir, but our hyperdrive is...," Hans was interupted as his console exploded throwing debris and sparks into his face. He grabbed his face and fell out of his chair, blood was leaking out and down through his hands.

Galeb turned away from the bleeding man and watched as the eight other Hive ships approached the Nona. "Someone man that station! Helm full sublight speed ahead!"

A woman moved to the weapons station and began to rapidly punch buttons. "Sir, we've got inbound fighters!"

"Launch all drones, and target another Hive ship with our aft cannons."

The ship shook again as it took more laser blasts from the Wraith ships fast approaching. Several men fell from their stations at the force of the blast. Galeb held onto the chair as the ship continued to rock violently, he gazed out the viewscreen at the fighters fast approaching. Hundreds of bright lights appeared and began to slam into the fighters causing several large explosions with secondary blasts. The fighters began to move erratically and began dodging the drones as they tracked their targets.

The woman continued to punch away at the computer terminal. "Sir, shields are depleted to seven percent!"

"Target at will! Destroy as many as you can!"

The ship shook violently again as the ship took several hits. The shields buckled and the lasers broke through and began to impact the hull of the Nona. Explosions ripped through the armored hull and violently decompressed entire sections of the ship. Several crewmen were sucked into the cold vaccum of space and they died almost instantly. Across the ship consoles exploded and conduits blew apart, throwing debris and fire into the crewmen near them.

The ship lurched heavily forward when one of the bottom sublight engines exploded apart. Shredded debris was thrown into other sections of the ship, causing several more compartments to decompress. The Nona now began to roll forward as it plumited towards the planet below.

"Helm! All engines full reverse!"

The powerful sublight engines were easily overwhelmed by the inertia and the planets gravity. It began to fall rapidly towards the planet as the Wraith ships continued to fire on the badly wounded craft. Sections of the ship were being blown open to space as the large lasers continued to tear into the hull. Debris was blown out into space and chunks of the ship blasted off of the hull.

The woman yelled from the station to his left. "Sir, were going in!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Year 82 of the Wraith War

Galeb held on as the front of the Nona began to glow a bright red. The hull began to melt and break away as the destroyer plumitted through the atmosphere towards the planet Galinishi. Several sections became dislodged and were torn from the hull of the Nona. The crewmembers inside were killed almost instantly when fire darted inside the tears through the hull and consumed everything inside of the compartments.

"Helm, lower our approach angle or we'll burn up!"

The ship rocked as a piece was dislodged and it broke apart scattering millions of pieces of debris and bodies into the atmosphere of the planet. The bridge started to fill with smoke as more of the hull continued to grow hotter and hotter.The ship slowly began to tilt more upward as the helmsman fought against the gravity of the planet. The ship broke through the atmosphere doing MACH 18, and it zoomed towards the ground at that incredible speed.

Galeb stumbled across the bridge through the thick white smoke and heat to get to the helmsman. He reached the man and saw that he was fighting the gravity of the planet just to keep the ship in one piece. Galeb began to press buttons and tell the computer what to do. The ships braking thrusters fired and the ship began to slow as it continued to dive for the planets surface. The hud blinked as its power was running out, Galeb continued to tell the computer to compensate for the breaking up and the extreme deceleration.

He pressed a button and the hud transformed showing the view from the front of the Nona, the ground was growing bigger and bigger with every second. The thrusters continued to push back against the gravity and inertia, but they weren't strong enough to slow the ship completely down. Galeb looked around the smoke filled bridge and at the other crewmen, he had served with some of them for over ten years. They were like a family and now most of the other crewmembers were dead or dying. Galeb doubted they would survive the impact of the ship slamming into the ground at its extreme velocity. The other crewmembers frowned and watched the screen as the ship continued to fall. Galeb turned and punched several buttons straightening out the approach angle of the Nona, it would now skip like a rock on water when it hit the ground. He grabbed onto the console and watched the screen.

The Nona hit the ground at twenty two hundred kilometers an hour. What remained of the bottom decks crumpled inward and crushed everything inside of them. Sparks flew and fires errupted out of the hull as the Nona bounced and came down a second time on the ground. Parts exploded off and flew randomly into the air, they would land several miles away from the crashed ship. The craft lifted into the air once more and came down crushing more decks and killing the crewmen who occupied them. Several explosions blasted out of the hull as drones were crushed and detonated inside the ships launchers. The Nona began to skid across the ground as several fires blazed on what remained of the Lantian destroyer. The ship continued to slide until its front impacted a cliff face and the ship was drawn to a complete stop, the ships sides cracked and people were thrown forwards by the inertia of the impact.

* * *

"Sir...sir, are you alright?"

Galeb slowly opened his eyes and was gazing up at the face of Brant Osirin. His face had a large gash which ran from his left eye to his lip. Blood was still leaking out of the wound as he helped the acting Captain to his feet. Galeb felt the world spin and the warm sticky substance draining down his face and onto his shirt. Galebs leg throbbed as he put weight down on it. He reached up and touched the liquid and he brought his hand back to look at it. It was covered in dark red blood that was now leaking down over his chin and down his neck.

"Have we come to a stop?"

"Yes sir," reported the Chief Engineer.

Galeb looked around the dimly lit room and saw the damage to the bridge for the first time since before the battle. The consoles were all fried and smoking now, there were several bodies scattered around the bridge. A few limbs were also scattered around on the debris riddin bridge floor. A few other surviving crewmen were getting to their feet with the help of some of the people who were in the engine room when the crash happened. They had survived thanks to the heavier armor platting around the engine room, it prevented it from being damaged to badly by the huge impact.

"How many survived?"

Brant turned towards him and a look of sadness crossed his face, he looked up at the ceiling and exhaled. "We've only found around fifteen people who survived the crash. Some of them need some medical help as soon as possible."

"Have you been to the medical bay yet?"

"No, we wanted to search the bridge before we started going to the other parts of the ship."

"Alright," said Galeb as he looked around at the other battered Lantians. They all looked at him, Galeb now felt the weight he had been carrying the most. "We need to get to the medical bay and check for any survivors," ordered Galeb as he began to limp off of the bridge. The other survivors followed their wounded leader.

* * *

Doctor Kie Los had a look of pure surprise on her face as Galeb walked into the medical bay. A large peice of metal had shoved its way through her chest and her clothes were completely drenched in blood. A large pool of blood surrounded her body as it layed on the floor, she had died fairly quickly when the ship had come to the slaming stop during the crash. Kie was thrown across the room into a large peice of metal that had been blown open during the battle. It stabbed its way into her chest and tore through her lungs and heart. She had bled to death in a few minutes.

"Hello...is there anyone alive in here?"

Galeb looked over at Brant who called into the dark medical bay, wires hung from the ceiling and a few small fires blazed in random spots on the floor. Bodies were scattered across the floor, all with pools of blood surrounding them. Nothing moved in the dark ghostly room.

"I don't think anyone made it in...," Galeb was inturupted as a woman coughed deep in the room.

Galeb and Brant looked at each other, then they ran into the room motioning to the crewmen behind them to come aswell. They followed the echoing cough of the woman until they found her under a large bulkhead that had collapsed. Galeb motioned to Brant and they both lifted on the count of three, the large bulkhead didn't budge. Two other crewmen grabbed the bulkhead and they all lifted together barely lifting the large chunk of metal. They threw it next to the woman as Galeb bent down to look at the woman.

She had blood dribbling down from her lips and blood that had come from her nose. It was pooling on her neck and soaking into her shirt as she continued to cough. Her dark brown hair was also drenched in the blood, as she looked up at Galeb. He picked up her hand and held it as her breathing became laboured. She coughed and more blood spat out onto her face. The womans hand slowly went limp and fell to the ground from his hand. Galeb reached down and closed her eyes.

"Whats that sound?"

Galeb listened as the sound grew closer, it was a low whine that echoed in through the holes in the ship. The sound grew louder as whatever it was got closer. Galeb frowned and walked towards the doorway, he looked out and down the corridors. They were empty, he turned around and looked back at his surviving fifteen crewmen. "Arm yourselves, this fight hasn't even started yet!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Year 82 of the Wraith War

Galeb took his sidearm out of its holster and began to walk down the dark corridor. He stepped over the debris and a few bodies that were scattered along on the floor. Galeb walked as quiet as he could down the corridor, behind him one of the survivors slipped and made a loud crash as they landed in a pile of debris.

He closed his eyes and listened for any other movement. The loud whine had finally gone away but it had circled the ship several times before it decided to leave. Everyone knew what the whine was, it was a Wraith ship coming down to check on the Nona. If the ship had come down then they obviously saw that most of the ship had survived the crash. They would come to make sure no Lantians had survived the crashed ship.

"Sir, we've got to get off this deck and to one of the more damaged ones. Then we can crawl out of one of the breaches in the hull," said Brant from behind him.

"They've probably already landed troops on the ground, we have to be quiet as we move throughout the ship," said Galeb.

Galeb looked back at the other survivors, most of them had their sidearms out and ready to fire at any Wraith they saw. Some of them held their wounds, a few even leaned on another person for support. They couldn't outrun any Wraith even if they wanted to. He turned and started walking down the next corridor, the walls were cracked and crumbling from the crash. The metal was torn and twisted by the force of the Nona hitting the ground. Brant walked behind Galeb in the dark hallway, they're feet clunked down the damaged floor plates.

The ship shook violently and Galeb fell to the ground, he could hear the whump from an explosion in another part of the ship. Galeb felt the fear twinge inside of him as the ship now turned deathly quiet after the blast. He got to his feet and felt the sweat that now began to collect on his brow. It mixed with the blood that was dryinig on his face and made a sick metallic smell.

A woman from behind them yelled. "What the hell was that?"

Galeb got to his feet and looked at her, "I think it was the Wraith blasting a way on board the ship."

She gasped and bowed her head, she quietly began to cry as they all watched her. The woman backed up and fell against the wall, she slowy slid down it and sat on the ground. She held her face in her hands as Galeb walked over to her. He looked down at her, "Why are you doing that?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

He held out his hand, "This planet still has a Stargate. We can still escape back to Atlantis."

She looked up at him, her eyes were red rimmed and tears were dropping down her face. She breathed in deeply, "I don't want to die here."

"You won't. C'mon lets go before they find us," said Galeb as she reached up and took his hand. He helped her to her feet and she wiped the tears from her eyes. Galeb started walking again as she took out her sidearm.

* * *

Galeb looked through the massive tear in the side of the Nona, the planets bright sun shone down through the clouds and illuminated the ground. The ground outside had many trees and there was a thick layer of snow on the forest floor. Galeb scanned the treeline closely looking for any sign of movement, the only thing moving was the trees from the light breeze that was blowing through the forest. He listened very carefully and no sounds could be heard except the wind and few a fires sitll burning from the crash. 

He reached up and wiped the blood off of his face with his shirt before looking back inside. The survivors waited for what he said, they all had a look of worry on their faces. "Its clear," he told them.

"Alright, you heard him. Lets get to the Stargate...," Brant was interupted as one of the surviving crewmen fell with a loud cry. Everyone looked at the man then down the corridor. Several Wraith warriors and officers ran towards them, they began to fire their stunners at their food.

Galeb took cover and aimed his weapon at the Wraith as they charged for them. He fired and a Wraith warrior fell to the ground doing a tumble as it landed. "Run!"

The fifteen surviving Lantians began their mad dash into the forest outside. The Wraith reached the tear in the ship and began to chase them out into the forest. Stunner blasts flew through the air, hitting trees and throwing up snow as they missed their targets. Galeb sprinted into the forest as the sounds of stunner fire continued to ring through the air all around him. He ducked as a blast flew over his head and hit a tree, the tree shook as the energy dispersed.

Galeb turned and fire off a shot back at the Wraith warrior who was chasing him, its grey armor glinted in the bright sunlight. It was getting closer to him now, he could hear its heavy footsteps and laboured breathing. Galeb jumped over a fallen tree and continued to sprint away from the Nona and the Wraith who had boarded it. He could see his breath in the cold winter, it was quick and short as he ran from certain death. He reached a small hill and he tried to stop. His footing slid out and he began to tumble down the hill. The world spun and flipped upside down as he fell in an uncontrollable roll down the hill. His shoulder hit a fallen tree and it tore into his flesh, the wound began to bleed rapidly.

He finally hit the bottom of the hill and Galeb layed on his back for a second trying to get his barings. He looked back up the hill and saw the Wraith coming down the hill towards him. Its blue skin was visible as it slowly and carefully ran down the hill towards him. Its face plate designs could easily be seen as it came down towards him. Galeb slowly got to his feet and fired off a shot at the Wraith, the blast hit a tree next to him. The tree ignited into a fire at the spot he had hit.

The sound of trees moving and braches snapping off to his left caught his attention. Another Wraith was coming through the forest towards him, it was an officer this time. Its dark blue/black trench coat shined as it ran towards him. Galeb fired at the Wraith on the hill, and the blast hit it square in the chest. It gave a howl of pain before it fell and rolled down the hill throwing up snow and breaking braches as it tumbled.

Galeb turned and began to run as the Wraith to his left fired and the blast hit the snow throwing it up into the air. He began to sprint again, his leg throbbed from the wounds he had on his leg. The blood continued to pump out of the wound on his shoulder as he ran. He was beginning to become winded from all the sprinting and blood loss. He continued to run from the Wraith who chased his food with a blood lust.

The sounds of screaming in the distance caught his ears, followed by more screaming. The sounds of Wraith fighters flew overhead as they searched for the survivors from the Lantian ship who had challanged them. Laser fire rang out in the distance and was followed by the steady reply of Wraith stunners. He dug his feet in the deep snow and continued to run from the blueish green creature. Galeb continued to run as the Wraith shot again, it missed and flew off into the forest.

Galebs right foot caught on a tree branch in the densely packed snow. He fell into the snow and his face burned from the cold snow touching it. He rolled over and onto his back as the Wraith caught up, it stood over him looking down at its prey. The slime and sweat on its face glinted in the sunlight, its large teeth were bared as it looked down at him. Its white hair hung down losely over the trench coat, as it caught its breath for a few seconds. Galeb raised his weapon at the Wraith but it hit from his hand and it landed in the snow several feet from him. Galeb gazed up into its eyes as it bent down to feed. The coldness in its eyes burned into him an image he would never forget for the last few seconds of his life. The Wraith raised his right arm and swung down.

The sound of a laser blast echoed through the air and the Wraiths chest burst into sparks and charred flesh. The creature fell down onto Galeb and he sat gazing up into the sky as heavy footsteps approached. Whoever had shot the Wraith was now a few feet from him and getting closer. Brants face looked down at Galeb who still layed in the snow with the Wraiths body on him. Brant reached down and threw the Wraith off of him, its dead body was limp as it landed in the snow.

"I thought I was too late when I fired," said Brant as he took Galebs hand and pulled him out of the snow.

Galeb stood, he was still in a state of shock as to how close to death he was, and not just death but brutal extremely painful death. If the shot had been a tenth of second later the Wraith would have started to feed on him. He looked over at Brant in disbelief, he hadn't died.

"Thanks. I thought I was gone," replied Galeb.

"Well," Brant said looking off into the forest as another scream of pain rang out in the distance. "I think were just about all thats left."

The sound of a Wraith fighter echoed from overhead as the Wraith continued to track down every last Lantian. "Our only chance is to get to the Stargate," said Galeb looking at Brant.

Brant nodded and they began to jog through the forest as more stunner fire echoed through the forest, it was followed by Lantian weapons fire. They both ran off towards the Galinishi Stargate as the Wraith continued to search.


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Chapter Six

Year 82 of the Wraith War

The smoke trailed up and into the atmosphere of the planet, you could see it from hundreds of miles all around in all directions. The smoke came from the crashed Lantian destoyer Nona, its hull was still burning as the fuel was being burnt off. Wraith fighters darted all around the sky over the Nona and the area surrounding it. A Wraith cruiser slowly descended through the clouds, and took up a hovering position over the wreckage of the Nona. The hull was a dark blue color against the light blue sky, lights could be seen from the windows onboard the cruiser. It gave the cruiser a sparkling effect against the blue sky of Galinishi.

A half mile away Executive Officer Galeb Krinson and Cheif Engineer Brant Osirin ran for their lives. They ran towards the Atlantian settlement on the planet, next to the settlement was the planets only Stargate. It was their only escape from the planet that was now being culled and taken over by the Wraith.

Galeb ran through the deep snow, it was difficult to move his feet through it. His legs and lungs burned from the difficult running. He knew they couldn't stop their running, if they did the Wraith behind them would catch up and kill them. Galeb felt the sweat beading down his forehead and drenching his hair. It was lowering his body heat as the cold air blew against his sweaty head. It sent cold chills all down his body, from his head to his toes. He continued to run, beside him he could hear the heavy breathing of Brant. His friend who had saved his life, was running beside him as they ran for the settlement. The settlement was definatly a long distance away but they had no other choice but to go to it.

They both stopped running and looked up as a Wraith fighter soared above them, it circled several times before disappearing into the distance. Galeb let out a loud exhale and looked over at Brant. "They're probably not gonna stop looking for us," he said looking down and slowly shaking his head.

"We can only hope we make it to the gate before they catch us," said Brant looking around.

The forest seemed to give off a deathly silence as they looked around. Galeb had a cold prickly feeling run up his spin as he looked around into the forest. Beside him Brant took out his sidearm and he raised it looking into the forest. "What is it?"

"I don't know. I feel like we're being watched," said Galeb looking closely into the forest.

Brant continued to scan the forest with his weapon at the ready. He looked closely at every object and shape in the snow, nothing was out of place. Galeb looked at Brant who turned and fired off his sidearm into the forest. The laser whized off and hit a tree, causing a small fire. Galeb felt the cold feeling from behind him as he turned and saw a dark shadow disappear into some bushes. "There using their telepathy, just block it out," said Galeb looking at Brant. Brant continued to turn around and look off into the distance, he fired off a shot once or twice for every direction he looked. Galeb walked over to Brant and took the laser from his hand, "its not there." Brant looked at him startled, he had a look of confusion on his face.

Galeb looked up into the sky and saw several Wraith fighters flying overhead. They had been scanning for the shots of confused Lantians, they now knew where they were in the forest. Galeb looked back down at Brant. "C'mon we gotta move!"

They began to run as the fighters came down and towards the forest, the fighters fired off several shots that sped into the forest and exploded with tremendous force. It knocked over trees and threw snow up into the air hundreds of feet. The fighters continued their straffing run, blue lasers continued to fly randomly into the forest causing large explosions and fire balls to rise up into the air. Galeb continued to run as the fighters continued to fire. They broke off their straffing run and pulled high up into the air. The fighters began to run their transport beams across the ground.

Galeb looked off to his left and saw a few useless shots fly up into the air from one of the other survivors deeper in the forest. The fighter and its beam flew over the area, it then peeled off and flew back to the cruiser hovering hundreds of feet above the surface. They continued to run as the loud whining sound of a Wraith fighter echoed from behind them. Galeb looked back to see it activate its beam and fly towards them. It was now flying towards them at incredible speed. Galeb reached over and tried to push Brant, but it was to late and they were both dimaterialized into thousands of gigaquads of data and beamed up into the Wraith fighter.

* * *

Galeb awoke to the loud humming sound of organic technology and quiet fearful whispering. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the room he was in. It was a dark blue/purpleish color and lights were running through it. Galeb quickly got to his feet and looked around the dark room. Two other Lantians were inside the dark chamber.

"Where are we?"

One of the Lantians got up and looked at him, "I think were onboard that Wraith cruiser that came down into the atmosphere," the young man said. His exterior showed a roughness to him, he didn't look afraid of what was going to come next, the brutal death of being fed upon by a Wraith. Galeb looked into his eyes and the roughness wasn't there, his eyes showed his true feelings. He was afraid of what was going to happen to him, it was apparent as he looked into the young officers eyes.

"Have they been in here yet?"

"Only once, they took crewman Besh a few hours ago," reported the man with a sad look in his eyes.

Galeb looked down at the ground as he thought about losing another crewmen to the Wraith again. So many had died because of him, it was all his fault. If he hadn't tried to help that ship, it was obvious the ship was long destroyed by the time they had arrived at the planet. Because of his decision all his crew were dead, or about to die. Why had he let himself be deluded into thinking that they could save one of their battleships. The Wraith never let anyone live, every Atlantian knew this. They had to escape if it was the last thing they did.

"Sir, are they gonna feed on us?"

Galeb looked up at the man, his face was hard as he waited for an answer. "Its more then likely," replied Galeb looking at the man. The man turned around and sat down on the floor of the holding cell. Galeb walked over to his crew and sat down next to them. He sat not speaking as he considered what to do next. It was obvious that they couldn't wait for death to come. Galeb looked at the two other men, they were sitting lost in their own thoughts as they waited for the Wraith to return.

"We have to escape," said Galeb looking at the other men.

"Whats the point," said the one who hadn't talked yet. He looked up at Galeb, "we'll just be delaying the inevitable."

"Well, I don't know about you, But I feel like living for a while longer. So when they come in next, I say we try to overwhelm them."

The two men looked at him, they slowly nodded as they started the long wait till the Wraith needed more food.

* * *

Galeb heard it first, the loud clomping of heavy footsteps on the floor. The Wraith were coming for more food, Galeb looked over at the other men. They all got to their feet as they watched the doorway. It slid back and several Wraith walked into the room, two warriors and an officer. They looked at the captured Atlantians, the officer looked at each one closely judging which one was best to eat.

It pointed at Galeb and the two warriors moved towards him. Galeb moved quickly and punched the closest warrior in the face. It gave out a surprised growl and fell to the floor as the other warrior grabbed Galeb and threw him into the wall. The other two men in the cell moved and tackled the other two Wraith. They struggled with the stronger enemy. Galeb got to his feet and kicked the Wraith he had punched in the face. The Wraith fell and he slowy tried to get up again. The sound a Wraith stunner echoed throughout the room, and one of the Lantians fell limp on the floor.

Galeb turned and looked over at a Wraith who had walked into the room. It had its sidearm stunner drawn and it fired at the other Lantian. He fell quickly and the three Wraith quickly got to their feet. A warrior reached out and picked up Galeb by his neck. Galeb felt the crushing grip on his neck and he began to slowly choke.

The officer who had walked in the room late hissed at the warrior and it let him down from the choking. The two warriors grabbed him and they dragged him out of the room. He struggled in a futile effort against the strong Wraith. They dragged him down the corridor and the door to the holding cell closed behind him, trapping what was the last of his men. They continued to drag him by the arms down the hall, they turned and took another direction away from the cell. They took another turn and another, until finally they were in a large room. The Wraith who had shot the other Lantians turned and looked back at the other three Wraith.

They slowly dropped him to the floor and backed off, the three lower class Wraith slowly walked out of the room. Galeb got to his feet and straightened out his uniform. He looked up at the seven foot Wraith, as it stood looking back down at him. Its slimy face twitched as it looked at its prey. The Wraith leaned foreward and looked into his eyes.

"One day someone like me is going to kill you and your whole god damn race. Take your fill demon!"

Galeb yelled into its face and it backed off a bit before he hissed in return. It moved foreward and drove his hand down into his chest. Galeb let out a cry of pain as the Wraith began to feed on him. It felt like thousands of little insects eating your flesh at the same moment. Galeb looked into the Wraiths eyes as it continued to feed on him. The Wraith hissed and began to pull more of Galebs life away from him. He felt his body slowly beginning to shrink and be eaten away. His muscles now began to flame as the creature continued to feed on him. Galeb closed his eyes and the image of his home in Atlantis came back to him. The vast ocean was what he saw as the last of his life was forcefully sucked from his body. Galeb was surrounded by a darkness and the pain finally disappeared.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1300 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

Captain Kurt Henderson felt the bone numbing coldness fade and the feeling to his limbs was restored. He stepped out of the Stargate and the different gravity of the planet pulled his weight down. His blue fatigues and black combat vest were pulled down by the heavier weight. He felt his P-90 get heavier in his hands but he continued to hold it at the ready. His hands tightened through his gloves on the trigger of the P-90 as he continued down from the exit of the ancient device. He walked forward and the sound of another person exiting the Stargate behind him was the only thing he heard.

Kurt scanned the ruins ahead of his team, he carefully looked into the ruins of the abondoned settlement. Nothing moved except the wind as it gusted over the snow. The sun was just rising over the horizon as Kurt continued forward, he made sure the area was clear before turning and waiting for the other members of his team to come through the Stargate. One of his men stood next to the shimmering gate already, the soldier watched his superior and waited for his sign of the all clear. Kurt made the familiar motions with his hands and walked back to the steps leading up to the gate. Another Marine exited the gate and looked at him, Kurt gave him a nod and the Marines stance became more at ease. The gates energy horizon shuttered and another person emerged from the gate. The woman walked down the steps and towards him, she had a small grey device in her hands.

"Any life signs, doctor?"

The woman continued to look at the device, she slowly raised her head. "There aren't any in the general area," she replied to her team leader.

Kurt looked over at the Marine who was second in command of his team, Luietenant Mike Yanson walked down the stairs and stood watching the ruins as he spoke. "Is it just me or do those buildings look ancient?"

"Of course their ancient, look at this place," said the other Marine, Luietenant Jack Lee.

"No, Atlantian you idoit," said Mike looking at Jack shaking his head.

Kurt looked from the two bickering Marines and looked at Doctor Linda Swenson, "doctor?"

She pushed a strand of her blond hair out of her eyes and looked at the ruins, she gazed closely then nodded to him. Kurt turned and walked a few feet from the other team members before hitting the radio on his shoulder, it gave a loud crackle. "Atlantis we have visual on an Ancient structure, we're going to proceed to the ruins and check for anything interesting. We'll check in at our appointed time."

Kurt waited for the reply from the Ancient city, the radio crackled loudly as they waited. "Alright. continue on mission," replied the familiar voice of the IOA appointed Dr.Weir, her voice held a bit of curiousity as she replied to her off world team.

"Copy that," said Kurt as he walked back to his team. They all watched him waiting for him to tell them their orders.

He looked at Luietenant Yanson, the man was younger then him and had dark brown hair. It was the regulation length and hidden under the standard military cap. The young Luietenant had a large chest, his arms were just as muscular. His uniform was larger then any other member on the expedition. He had dark brown eyes with a strong jaw to match the rest of his body type. "What are we doing?"

"Alright, we're going into the ruins," replied Kurt looking at the other members of his team. "Lee take point."

The youngest member of the team nodded and he began to walk off towards the ruins in the distance. He was just twenty years old and had dark black hair. His face was clear evidence of his half Vietnamese mother. The man continued walking down an old path that was beginning to have a thick layer of snow on top of it.

"If we get into any trouble, I don't want you sticking around. Just make a break for the Stargate and get back to Atlantis," ordered Kurt to Doctor Swenson.

She gave a slight nod in reply as she continued to walk scanning the area around them for anything out of the ordinary. Her blond hair was in a tight bun that was covered by her military issue cap. She had blue eyes that sometimes seemed to be a dark grey color when she was angry. The woman had on the standard uniform for Atlantis Science personel, but she wore a military issue vest over top of it.

They all walked deeper into the snowy hills towards the Atlantian settlement in the distance. Each team member had their own thoughts about what they might find at the dilapidated settlement. Each human team member kept these thoughts to themselves as they continued into the hills.

* * *

Captain Kurt Henderson layed in the deep wet snow, his fatigues were becoming wet and the layers of clothes under them were slowly becoming wet and cold aswell. In his hands he held a standard pair of Binoculars. He gazed out at the ruins of the Ancient settlement, the settlement had several badly damaged buildings and a large tower that seemed to stretch hundreds of feet into the air. It had four large arms that came out from the tower and made a rectangle around the top of the tower.

The wind howled past and around them as he took his gaze from the settlement and looked back at the group of explorers. "It looks clear," he said getting back to his feet. He opened his vest and placed the durable binoculars back into the large pocket. "But that doesn't mean there isn't someone down there," he said closing the pocket.

"How do you want to aproach it then?"

Kurt looked at Lee, "Mike and me will move up with you coving us. The doc will stay with you up here," he said looking at his other two men who nodded their heads in reply.

Kurt unclipped his P-90 submachine gun from his vest and looked at Yanson. He did the same and they both in unison walked over the hill and began to run down the other side towards the Ancient settlement. Lee layed down in the snow and began to look through the scope on his P-90. He watched them pass several fallen trees and slowly wade through the thick snow towards the settlement.

Mike and Kurt both carefully watched the ruins as they aproached, they held their guns at the ready as they moved. Kurt continued to struggle through the deep snow as Yanson walked slowly beside him. Kurt scanned the ruins with his P-90 and watched for any sign of movement. Nothing moved in the chilled day air as they both entered the ruins at the same time.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1328 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The wind sailed high up into the air before coming down pulling the snow up from its resting place and spiraling it around before lettting it fall back down to its resting place. The snowy wind continued to spiral and spin through the ruins of the ancient outpost. Some of the walls in the settlement had collapsed with age, others had been knocked down by fierce fighting from the original culling and centuries of other fighting since then.

Captain Kurt Henderson stepped forward with his P-90 at the ready. His military boot dug into the hard snow and it gave a loud crunch as he stepped forward into the settlement. Beside him the loud crunches of Yansons boots could also be heard. They both walked in unison into the village, each one scanned their own side of the village. Yanson had the right side, Kurt had the left side. They both carefully scanned the ruins for any signs of hostiles.

Kurt walked forward and leaned inside the collapsed door of a building, its insides were covered snow and various other debris. Animal tracks criss crossed the inside of the room. There were consoles and other instruments in the room that had long since been fried by extreme cold. Kurt frowned when he saw the skeleton in the corner, he looked over at Yanson and whistled. The Marine turned and saw his Captain motion for him to come to him. Kurt waited for the man to move over to him before he moved into the room. He stepped over any debris on the floor and trudged through the snow towards the body in the corner.

Its bones were obviously very old and several bones were missing from the body of the person. Several other bones had tiny teeth marks on them, the skull was detached and laying next to the body. Kurt bent down and brushed some of the snow away with his gloved hands. It had two other objects near it, one looked like an Ancient scanner while the other looked like some sort of Ancient weapon.

"Look at this," said Yanson pushing the skull over to him with his foot.

Kurt looked down at the skull and saw it. There was a large gaping hole in its temple, the Ancient had commited suicide. Kurt stood and looked over at Yanson. He shook his head and walked out of the building, he turned on his radio as he walked. "Lee, it looks clear down here. You and Doctor Swenson can move to our position now."

"Copy that, were on our way."

Kurt looked up into the hills and saw the two dark objects emerge from the snow and begin to slowly make their way down the hill towards him. They both moved fairly quickly through the snow towards them. The two humans panted as they tried to move their heavier weight and get down the hill quickly.

They reached their team leader and waited for his directions, "we found some Ancient consoles in their, if you want to take a look?"

The doctor smiled and moved off towards the dark doorway, she stepped inside the building and saw Yanson standing inside. Kurt looked over at Lee, "we found an Ancient in their. It looks like he commited..."

A screech broke through the air from the room and both Lee and Kurt sprinted to the building. They ran inside with their guns at the ready. They looked over and saw the Doctor as she stormed out of the building and into the cold day air. Kurt followed her out, "what the hell was that?!"

She turned and looked at him, "theres a dead body in their if you didn't notice!"

Kurt exhaled and looked into the air for a second, he brought his gaze back down to her. He relaxed a bit and lowered his P-90. "Its just some bones of a person who died hundreds of years ago."

She yelled back at him. "Its bones!"

He rolled his eyes, "alright. If you want us to we'll move it out of there."

She nodded in reply at them before turning and looking off into the distance. Kurt walked back into the room and looked at his two other marines. "The doc apparently can't work with the bones in here." The other two men chuckled and looked at the bones. "So were gonna have to move them, I know thats really wierd. But we need to know what the Ancients used this place for."

They both nodded and everyone moved to the bones piled in a corner. Kurt looked over at Lee and shook his head, "god damn this is stupid." Lee smiled as both Lee and him bent down and began to pick up various bones.

* * *

"Okay doc, you had better be able to determine what this place was," said Kurt standing next to the Doctor in the building. 

"I already have," she replied. "I managed to uplink with the central computer and after going through some of their firewalls and barriers.."

"Wait, why does the computer still have power?"

"Thats just it. This place runs on a ZPM. In fact six of them," she relied to Kurt.

Kurt smiled, "whats their condition?"

"Unfortunetly, all but one are completely depleted. The last ones charge is almost out aswell."

Kurt shook his head and walked across the room, he looked around as he thought about this new information. This was his first chance to make his team the best in the base. Instead of it always being Col. Sheppards team that was the best team and having the praise of Dr. Weir. They always seemed to save the day at the last minute. It drove most of the other team commanders nuts. Their superior was not only in charge of them but he was also allowed to go on missions and his team always seemed to come across the most action.

Kurt had only seen some Wraith twice in his whole time at Atlantis. That was when he had first arrived with the Marines and Colonel Everett during the battle for Atlantis. He had come across one of the pilots of Wraith Dart and it had managed to shoot two of his men before he could put a full clip into its chest. Then later after the battle was over and the Wraith Hive ships were destroyed the survivors of the Wraith assault were still trying to do damage to Atlantis. Him and his security team had come across another Wraith as it placed a grenade where it would blast a hole in the structure. They had pinned it down and the grenade had gone off next to him but it had injured several of his men aswell.

"The good news is," she said waiting for Kurt to turn around. "This place had so many ZPMs for a reason," she said smiling.

"And whats that?," snapped Kurt as his patience began to grow thinner.

"This settlements purpose was to manufacture ZPM's and to load them onto vessels. Thats what that tower outside is for. A ship would descend through the atmosphere and land on that tower where those arms would activate an anit grav field around the ship."

Kurt walked back across the room, past Lee and Yanson. He looked at the Doctor, "Is there any left in storage?"

She smiled and began to type away at her computer, she frowned as the computer tried to firewall her again. She quickly managed to get around that and brought up the settlements inventory. The screen blinked several times and the computer hummed as it acessed the information. "Apparently they still have one shipment left that was supposed to be picked up by a ship called the Nona."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1412 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The steady clicking of the advanced computer could be heard from all around the settlement. The wind and the steady clicking were all that could be heard from anywhere in the general area. The crumbling ruins gave the settlement an erie ghost town look as the three Marines stood outside one of the only control rooms that hadn't fallen over.

Kurt ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. Yanson stood opening and closing a zippo lighter, he twirled it and threw it up into the air. He made it go over top of his fingers before he ignited it and held it open for a few seconds. He snapped it shut and did it all over again. Lee stood checking his gear again even though they had done it several times before they had left Atlantis.

"What the hells taking her?"

The other two Marines looked at Yanson who was still playing with his zippo lighter. The man managed to speak without losing any speed on his tricks with the lighter. "Shes been in there for a good twenty minutes. All she has to do is find the area they store the ZPM's in."

Like she was listening, the Doctor walked out and looked at Kurt, she had a disappointed look on her face young face. "Captain, a word please?"

Kurt nodded and walked into the building, his feet crunched in the snow as he walked inside. The howling wind stopped as he followed the Doctor inside the building. She walked to one side of her laptop and began to type several buttons on its keyboard. "Whats wrong Doctor?"

"It turns out that ship," she looked at him to make sure he was listening. "The Nona was a military ship, not a transport ship. The computer records say it arrived minutes before a Wraith fleet did. The ship managed to load the shipment onboard but they were forced to engage the Wraith once they returned to orbit. Thats all the information the computer has," she stated.

Kurt nodded his understanding, "does that mean the shipment isn't here anymore?"

"I thought thats what it meant. But look at this," Doctor Swenson walked back over to her bag and took out the small grey scanner. She showed the screen to him, it was a large cylinder a fair distance from the four small dots that indicated them. "That ship didn't make it out of orbit. It must have crashed on the surface, it might still have the shipment onboard."

Kurt smiled and walked back to the door, "Collect your equipment Doctor. We have to check in, then we'll go search for that ship," said Kurt as he stepped out and into the whistling wind again.

* * *

The Stargate shimmered as the team stood a few feet from the gate listening to the radio chatter between Kurt and Dr. Weir. "Ma'am were capable of moving to that crash site on foot. Theres no need for a Jumper to come through to fly us to the site." 

"Well I think there is good reason to send the Jumper, once you've located the ship you'll have six hours to check in again."

"Yes, ma'am. Who are you sending as our pilot?"

"Were sending Luietenant Ashton in Jumper Nine," replied Weir.

"Copy that," said Kurt exhaling.

The gate stopped shimmering and it quickly deactivated. The wind continued to howl as they waited for Atlantis to dial back. The pedistool the Stargate sat on was slowly becoming more and more covered with snow. The wind was beginning to pick up as the day began to end on this planet.

"I swear if it was any colder here...," said Yanson trailing off as the gate gave a loud electronic sound and errupted to life. The event horizon spat out and consumed the air and snow in front completely vaporizing them. The raw energy seemed like a savage dog being released from its cage and being pulled back by a leash. The energy pulled back and was now just a shimmering surface like the water of a pond. The event horizon shuddered and the shimmer seemed to open up. The large dark blue organic point of a Wraith Dart burst through and the ships engines pushed the large starfighter forward at several hundred miles an hour.

"Dart!," yelled Kurt as he dived to his stomach. Everyone else in the team dived to the ground just as the large fighter roared right over where they were standing just mili seconds before. The fighter gained speed and flew up into the air, it continued going as the Stargate shimmered again and another Dart errupted from the gate. It sped over their heads aswell and disappeared following the same direction of the first Dart. The gate deactivated and the loud whine of the Darts could be heard as clear as day.

"What the hell are they doing here?," yelled Yanson as he got to his feet.

The team got to their feet as the Stargate activated again, they all turned to the gate again. It shuddered and the energy spat out before being pulled back into the device. The blue energy shimmered and the Puddle Jumper slowly moved through the gate. Kurt reached up and activated his radio,"Jumper Nine, we have Wraith Darts in the vicinity. Activate your cloak!"

The grey/brown color of the Ancient ship could be seen as Luietenant Ashton reacted to this new information. The side pylons and engines slid out and the Jumper rocketed forward and into the air. Its hull glinted as the bright white snow shined off of its strangely designed hull. The Stargate deactivated as the Jumper continued to climb.

"Their coming back around!," said Dr. Swenson and the other three Marines who turned to watch as the two enemy fighters sped towards the Jumper.

The lead Dart moved in behind the slow moving Jumper and lined up the Target. The large point at the front of the Dart glowed as the fighter shot its blue energy lasers out and towards their target. The first few shots missed and they sped off harmlessly in the sky. The pilot quickly corrected his error and the next shots hit their mark, the hull of the Jumper sparked as it took the hits. Metal and fire spewed out of one of the pylons as it began to lose atlitude. Luietenant Ashton lost control of the Jumper and it swung around. The one engine was knocked out and the other was working at full capacity causing the Jumper to make a large arc and come down towards the team.

"Run!"

Kurt began to run as the flaming Puddle Jumper now sped towards them. His feet crunched in the snow with every stride he took. The loud shrill sound of the Darts echoed through the air as the four Humans sprinted for their lives. A large long trail of thick black smoke came from the blown out pylon as the doomed ship dived. The Jumper lost speed as it fell from the air and the bottom of the spaceship caught on the Stargate causing it to be pulled straight down. The front and cockpit of the Jumper smashed into the ground and exploded throwing debris and flames into the air. The vessel threw out a large fireball as debris spiraled off into all directions.

A large chunk of metal sliced through the air and tore into the leg of Luietenant Lee. He gave a loud cry of pain as it ripped its way through the muscle and fat causing blood to spurt out and into the snow as he fell to the ground. He landed and snow was thrown up into the air as the Darts flew directly over their heads.

Yanson stopped and grabbed Lee by the vest, he began to drag the wounded soldier towards the forest one hundred feet away. Kurt stopped and watched the Darts as they came around again. Their approach was far to shallow to be making a straffing run, they obviously intended to use their transport beams.

Kurt crouched to one knee and began to fire his P-90 Submachine gun at the lead Dart. The hull sparked and the canopy of the Dart seemed to crack as the bullets ripped into the enemy fighter. A small fire started out of the wing of the Dart and it began to slow down. The fighter rolled off and began to dive towards the ground as the second Dart sped past with its beam activated. The beam missed the desired targets and Kurt began to fire at the second fighter. His P-90 clicked empty as the fighter sped off into the sky.

The Stargate activated behind them and the second Dart dived for the gate. It continued to dive as Kurt quickly tried to reload his gun, it passed through the gate just as Kurt slammed the magazine home and cocked the gun. The Stargate stood shuttering for a second then it deactivated leaving them all with just the sound of the whistling wind.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1421 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The scarlet red blood sprayed up and down into the snow from Luietenant Lee's leg. Lee screamed in pain as the blood continued to flow out of the wound. The large peice of the Jumpers hull was lodged right through his upper thigh. Luietenant Yanson pulled a small syringe from his vest and injected it into the other leg of the wounded soldier.

"Hes losing alot of blood. We need to get him back to Atlantis as soon as possible," said Yanson surpressing the blood flow. The blood flowed out and between his fingers as he pushed down.

Kurt looked down as the blood continued to flow out and into the snow. The snow was changing from white to a dark red color. The blood was continuing to pour out of the wound, it steamed in the cold winter air.

"Doc, go dial us out!"

Kurt reached down and grabbed Lee's shoulders, he nodded to Yanson and they both lifted the wounded man as he screamed in pain. Yanson took the lead and began to run towards the Stargate a few hundred feet away. Dr. Swenson already stood at the gates DHD and was pressing the large buttons on the device. Flaming chunks of debris and Fires surrounded her from the crashed Puddle Jumper. She crouched down and looked at the inside of the device.

"Move your ass, Yanson. Hes bleeding out here," said Kurt as he ran holding up wounded Lee.

They continued to run as Swenson turned and ran back towards them. "Stop!"

Kurt and Yanson stopped running and slowly placed Lee on the ground. They stood as the Doc ran up to them. "The DHD's gone. A peice bigger then that went right through it," she said pointing at Lee's leg.

Kurt stood dazed for the moment, he thought about what this new information meant for all of them. Not only could they not get back to Atlantis to help Lee, they couldn't get back home. They couldn't even check in, they would have to wait six hours till they were over due to check in. Then Atlantis would send a Jumper which had its own DHD inside of it. "Were gonna have to wait till were over due."

Yansons face turned angry as he protested. "Sir, hes not gonna last that long. We need to find a way off world, real soon."

Kurt nodded but a frown crossed his face as he spoke, "Doctor is there any other way to dial the gate?"

She stood thinking for a second as she thought about the different things that they could. She made a weird face as she thought, it made Kurt smile at its awkwardness. Her eyes got bigger as she had a thought come to mind. "The Dart. It has its own DHD onboard. If you were to go dial it out, we could get back."

Yanson smiled and shook his head,"what about us? Won't the gate shut off before we get back to it?"

"Once I'm through, I'll tell them to hold it open. You'll have less then thirty eight minutes to get back to it."

Kurt nodded and looked at Yanson who nodded in reply. He looked down at Lee who had long since stopped screaming and moaning from the pain. His face was relaxed and he looked from person to person, with a large smile on his face. Kurt looked back up to the Doc. "Alright, we'll keep in radio contact. I want both of you with your guns out and ready," said Kurt as he looked from Lee to the Doc. "If enough of the Dart survived the crash to dial home, then the pilot probably made it too."

Dr. Swenson reached down and took her M9 Beretta from its holster and pulled back the slide. It made a loud click in the deathly quiet air. Kurt nodded and looked over at Yanson, they both began to slowly jog in the direction of the crashed Dart. "C'mon move it Yanson. Were on the clock."

* * *

The wind quietly blew through the trees and pushed snow off of the branches which fell with quiet a poof sound. The sky was growing dimmer and dimmer as the sun was setting on the planet. Below the snow filled trees layed the two Marines. Kurt breathed in and out quietly, the only thing that showed he was breathing was the mist caused by his hot breath. Beside him layed Yanson who was also breathing in and out quietly as they both looked into the trees. Kurt had his binoculars out and looked into the trees. 

Two hundred feet ahead of them trees burned and were knocked over. Flames were scattered across the area and debris was randomly thrown in places.The main fuelsalage of the Dart was hidden behind a large peice of flaming organic metal. It prevented Kurt from seeing the cockpit in any detail. All he could see was the large rear area where the advanced red glowing engine was located.

Kurt leaned over and whispered, "what do you think?"

"Its shitty angles sir, we couldn't see him from here even if we wanted to," he whispered in reply.

"Alright, whos going to look for him?"

Yansons face changed from a concentrated look to another look. He smiled and shook his head at Kurt, "alright. I'll go, you better watch my ass."

Yanson nodded and turned on his laser sight, he steadied his P-90 on a log and watched as Kurt got up and slowly began to walk to the flaming dart. Kurt held his P-90 at the ready as he slowly stepped in the hard snow, it crunched with every step. The flaming debris made dark shadows in the dusk air as he walked forward. Kurt scanned from each dark shadow to the next as he scanned for any signs of the pilot. He continued to walk to the Dart.

He felt the fear twinge down his spine as he walked forward, he was just over forty feet from the Dart. Sweat began to bead down his forhead and down his back. He felt the cold air against his skin even through his layered winter clothes. A cold chill ran up his spine as he passed the large flaming peice of a wing that had obscured their vision. He continued to walk towards the cockpit, it was facing away from him. He walked towards it, he felt the energy come to him as his adreneline pumped. Kurt stayed a few feet from the cockpit as he approached it. He stepped out and looked into the cockpit with his gun at the ready. It was empty.

Kurt reached up and turned on his radio, "alright its clear. Everyone heads up, hes out here somewhere."

Kurt looked off into the trees with the fading light, shadows were everywhere in the forest. He turned and watched as Yanson ran towards him, it took the man a few seconds to cross the two hundred feet distance to him. Yanson ran up and looked inside the cockpit aswell. It was empty, and he looked back at Kurt.

"Alright lets dial this and get outta here," said Kurt.

Kurt turned and moved to the cockpit as something made a loud clacking sound. Both Kurt and Yanson looked at the egg shaped device as it bounced down the hull and into the cockpit of the Dart. Kurt turned and yelled,"run!"

They both began to run as the time ticked away, they were a feet away when the blast errupted from the cockpit. The explosion ripped out of the fighter and metal flew in all directions. The ground shook from the blast and both Yanson and Kurt were thrown by the concussion of the grenade. A large fireball ripped into the sky and several trees were lit ablaze by the bomb.

Kurt landed in the snow and felt a burning pain in his back. The world went dark as the sound of gunfire began to chatter around him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1442 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

Kurt was quickly pulled to his feet and he opened his eyes, he was being picked up by Yanson who was firing his P-90 with one hand. It shook as the bullets were blasted out of the weapon. Kurt felt a sharp pain rip through his back and it burned. Yanson was still carrying his superior with one arm and shooting back at something. Thats when he saw it.

A Wraith stunner blast whizzed by and hit a tree causing snow to fall from it. The sound of stunner fire could now be heard as Kurts senses returned to him. Kurt slowly got control of his legs again. "I can run," he said to Yanson.

Yanson looked down in surprise and let his leader down. Kurt hit the ground and reached for his P-90, nothing was there. Kurt looked back up at Yanson who was taking cover behind a tree and firing back into the forest. "I had to leave it sir," Yanson said without even looking at him.

"What the hell am I supposed to use now! My shoe?!"

Yanson leaned out and fired off a burst of bullets at the Wraith in the forest. The Wraith replied with several shots which hit the snow and trees around Kurt. Kurt scrambled to his feet and took cover behind a tree near Yanson. He took out his Colt .45 and looked into the forest. A stunner blast hitting the tree told him that he had left it out for to long to look.

"This isn't gonna do anything, you know," said Kurt shaking his gun at Yanson.

Yanson leaned out and his P-90 chattered off several bullets that tore into a tree shooting splintered bark and wood in all directions. The Wraith hissed and fired off a shot back from its sidearm. The laser hit Yansons tree and disipated quickly. "I'm sorry sir."

Kurt leaned out and fired off two shots at the Wraith, they whizzed down and hit a tree. The bullets caused several wood chips to splinter off into the Wraiths face. The Wraith hissed and fired off several shots and ran forward to the next tree. Yanson fired at it as it ran, the bullets ripped into the trees it ran past and threw up snow from the ground that they hit. Kurt took cover again as Yanson continued to fire. Bullet casings bounced everywhere and fell into the snow on the ground.

Kurt leaned out and saw the Wraith as it ran to another tree closer to them. "Why is it trying to get closer to us?"

"I think I hit him a few times. He may want to feed so he can heal quicker."

Yanson leaned out and fired off several shots then his sub machine gun clicked empty. He took cover and pulled the clip out and threw it onto the ground behind him.Kurt leaned out and fired his .45 in reply to the stunner fire. He took another clip out and slammed it into his gun, then cocked it and leaned out to fire. He fired it on full auto tearing the tree the Wraith took cover behind apart and splintering wood and debris into the air.

The Wraith leaned out and fired, the blue laser whized past several trees, through some branches and hit Yanson in the chest. The large man bared his teeth as he tried to fight the pain consuming him. He fell to the snowy ground and dropped his P-90 in the snow. Kurt watched as the man passed out from the extreme pain, he looked out at the Wraith who was waiting to be fired at again. It slowly peeked its head out and looked down range at the human enemy. It waited for the human to take the shot at it, but none came. It slowly got to its feet, its dark coat shinned off of the dark stars that now were across the sky. Its bright white hair hung down its coat and swayed as it began to walk towards the humans.

It was getting closer, Kurt knew this was his only opportunity. The adreneline began to pump and Kurts heart raced. He got up and aimed his handgun. He fired and the gun kicked back with the recoil sending a bullet speeding towards its target. The bullet raced through the air and hit the Wraith sqaure in the chest. Blood spurted out and into the snow but the Wraith continued to walk. It now began to pick up its pace as Kurt fired again. The bullet hit him again but it continued to run at him. Kurt now began to pull the trigger rapidly as the Wraith ran at him. The bullets tore through the body of the Wraith and it continued to move towards him.

The Wraith was a few feet from Kurt when his handgun finally clicked empty. Kurt reached back and took his combat knife from its sheeth as the Wraith was now an arms length from him. The Wraith tackled Kurt and he fell into the snow making a loud crunch as he landed. The Wraith landed ontop of Kurt and quickly got his focus back. It brought up its arm and swung down.

Kurt swung with his knife and the large sharp bladed weapon tore through the Wraiths hand. Its blood poured out and down the blade of the weapon. It howled in pain, anger, and surprise. Kurt used his left hand punched the Wraith in the face. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran to the body of Yanson. He picked up the mans P-90 and pointed it at the Wraith who was just getting back to his feet.

It stood looking at him as he stood aiming the weapon at its chest. In that exact moment both men knew nothing could be done for each other. They shared a bond now that went beyond species and faction. They looked into each others eyes as Kurt pulled the trigger. The gun shook with each bullet that was ignitted. Bullets fired from the weapon and tore into the chest of the Wraith, its blood and body shredded into all directions from the bullets.

It howled and fell to the ground, landing with a loud crunch in the snow. It convulsed several times before it finally stopped moving and died in the snow.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1453 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The Wraiths dark blood still steamed in the cold night air as Kurt bent down beside Yanson. Kurt watched the mans shallow breathing. He breathed in and out steadily, his moist breath was a ploom of steam in the chilled night air. The large man from southern Ohio layed in the cold snow as his body was disabled from the Wraith stunner. His eyes flicked open and Yanson looked up at his superior officer.

"You got hit by a stunner. It'll be a bit before you can move properly," said Kurt calmly.

Kurt looked around in the surrounding forest. It was quiet and dark, shadows danced from the moonlight. The forest gave off an erie feel as he continued to watch off into the forest. He looked back to the body of the dead Wraith. All that remained in the snow was its dark blood that had cooled down and stopped steaming. His knife layed on the ground a few feet away, it was covered in blood.

Kurt got to his feet and raised his P-90, he scanned from shadow to shadow looking for the Wraith. It was gone, its bloody tracks led off into the forest and disappeared into the darkness. Kurt continued to look around at the dark forest.

Kurt continued to scan while he reached over and turned on his radios transmitter. "Swenson?" He listened intently. Nothing came in reply except the loud static. "Swenson...respond." The radio continued to crackle as Kurt waited for an answer.

"Lees not gonna make it if you don't hurry...how long till you use the DHD?"

Kurt frowned and turned to look off into the forest behind him. "The pilot of the Dart destroyed it before we could use it. Keep a heads up, hes out there somewhere. We shot him a couple of times, I want both of you to report in every ten minutes until me and Yanson get back."

The radio crackled a few times, it seemed to be an eternity before she responded to her superior. "Copy that," her voice had a quiet sound to it. It was almost a whisper, Kurt knew why.

Without the Darts DHD they had no chance of saving Lee. He was already dead but he didn't know it yet. He would bleed out in a matter of minutes without immeadate treatment. Kurt felt a wave of sadness come over him as the realization of losing another team member finally hit him. Since he had arrived with Colonel Everett in Atlantis, Kurt had lost three men who were members of his team. He had lost one of his men in Atlantis during the seige, his team had pinned a Wraith down and it had blewn itself up, killing two of his men.

The last man was to a Genii ambush that they had stumbled across on a planet. They were trying to search for ZPMs when the Genii had attacked. The weapons they used were similar to the weapons that the expedition used, in the fact that they fired bullets. But other then that, the weapons were old and very poorly kept. They were similar to weapons that had been around during the 1950s on Earth. They were accurate to a degree and good at fair distances.

The Genii also possessed many weapons that were more destructive then that though. They had successfully created an Atomic bomb and were going to use them in a decade. But when they had learned that Sheppard had awoken the Wraith, they had become violent and tried to kill his team. After that, every single encounter with the Genii was always hostile. They had even taken the city of Atlantis at one point. But thanks to Colonel Sheppard the city had remained in the expedtions hands. The Genii seemed to want to kill all the expedition members they came across.

Kurt smiled at his like for fighting the Genii over the Wraith. The Genii were humans just like them, but the Wraith were much worse. They were more advanced and had far supperior numbers then them. And even worse they ate humans for food. Kurt shook as his head as he thought about all the petty problems that humans had. They should unite and stand against their enemy as one, but he was not a fool and knew that would never happen. Humans never stayed united for long, when they did manage to work together. People always found reasons for the mutual partnership to end.

Kurt looked over at Yanson, "Hey can you talk yet?"

Yanson opened his mouth and a gurlged sound came out. He closed his mouth and smiled embarressed at his lack of healing. Kurt walked over to Yanson and nodded. "Its alright, can you move anything else yet?"

He shook his head and looked off into the forest. Kurt followed his gaze and saw the shine from something. His hands moved before he could even develop the thought of what he was looking at. It occured to him it was the Wraith running when he pulled the trigger and the gun shook with every shot. The recoil shook the gun and shot casings out to the ground from the bottom of the gun. The trees near the Wraith splintered and trees limps were cut clean off by the bullets that sped to their target. The air filled with dust from the splintered trees. The Wraith disappeared into the darkness again and Kurt moved to chase it but stopped.

He couldn't leave Yanson like this, what if the Wraith doubled back and caught him without the ability to move? He couldn't let another of his men get killed like that. Kurt frowned and looked off at the darkness. Nothing moved in the darkness except the slight chilly breeze in the night air. It blew through the trees and knocked snow from their limbs. They fell and hundreds of snowflakes blew in the direction of the wind.

Kurt looked back at Yanson, "we need to move back to Swenson and Lee soon."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1513 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

Kurt looked over at Yanson who got to his feet, the man was a little shakey at first but his cold muscles soon woke up and he was secure on his feet as usual. The man brushed the snow off his blue fatigues and looked over at Kurt. Kurt unclipped the P-90 from his vest and passed it back over to Yanson. He took it and they both began to walk back to the crashed Dart. Kurt reached down and picked up his knife from the snow and wiped it on his pant leg. It took them three or so minutes to walk back the distance that Yanson had ran.

They passed a large flaming peice of the Darts wing, its blue and silver hull was charred black from the fire. The snow around the debris was melted from the extreme heat of the fire. They continued walking past a flaming bush which had also caught a tree on fire and they both blazed loudly as they walked past.

"Thank you sir," said Yanson as he looked toward the ground.

Kurt stepped over a fallen tree and looked over at Yanson, "its alright Luietenant. You couldn't help that you were hit."

Yanson looked into the forest as they both got closer to the Dart. "I shouldn't have let myself get hit like that though, sir."

Kurt looked off into the forest, nothing moved in the darkness. The flames caused shadows to dart and dance on the trees that surrounded the area. The flaming trees crackled loudly as their bark was burned away from their exterior. "Luitentant. Thanks to you getting hit, I was able to get closer to that Wraith and wound it badly. The only problem now is," he trailed off as he watched some trees move slightly from the wind. "That the Wraith now needs to feed to live."

Kurt looked in the debris filled snow until he saw his P-90 lying in the snow. It was partially covered in the snow and all he could see was the barrel and front half of the gun sticking out of the snow. He walked over and picked it up, he ejected the clip then put the clip back in and cocked it.

"We need to get back to Lee and Swenson," said Kurt starting to walk off towards the Stargate.

* * *

"Thats it!" 

Kurt stepped back at the Doctors outburst, "Whats it?"

"The ship. We can use its cargo to dial the gate," said Doctor Swenson with a smile on her face.

Kurt looked at the DHD then towards her. "Why couldn't we just do it now?"

She frowned and pointed towards the DHD which was a few feet from them. "When the metal sliced its way through the DHD, it destroyed the gates power source. I found this out just after you radioed back about the Darts DHD. It wouldn't have worked even if you had tried it."

Kurt looked over at Lee who was laying the snow. A small pool of blood was at the wound on his leg, Lee layed in the snow with his P-90 in his hand. Kurt walked over to him and kneeled down beside him. "How you holding up, marine?"

"I've had better, sir. But I can make it, don't worry about me."

"Yanson you stay here with Lee. Me and the Doc will go get the cargo," ordered Kurt looking at Yanson who nodded in reply to his officer.

Kurt looked over at the doctor, "Lead the way," he said motioning with his hand.

The sound of electronics locking and the ear splitting sound of pure energy errupting peirced the air. The team all looked to the source of the noise. The Stargates event horizon shot out and was sucked back in.

"Move to cover!"

Yanson reached down and grabbed Lees vest and began to pull the man in the snow. He slid easily as the large man pulled the smaller marine away from the Stargate. Kurt ran back and jumped in behind a large peice of the Puddle Jumper that had finally stopped flaming. Swenson ran and took cover in the forest as the gates Event Horizon finally stabalized and made a shimmering surface.

Kurt unclipped his P-90 and pointed it at the gate. He looked back to see Yanson finally move Lee into the forest with Swenson. He turned back to the gate just as the first occupant exited it. The large Wraith warrior stepped through, in his hands he clutched a large rifle version of the stunners they carriered. It had a large spike on the end that could be used for stabbing in close quaters fights. Its grey armor shinned as the Stargates bright lights shimmered off of it. A few seconds past before another Wraith exited the gate. Then another, and another. The gate finally deactivated as eight Wraith walked down the pedistool the gate stood on. Seven Wraith warriors walked down and into the deep snow. The Wraith Officer stayed back a bit as they scanned the area.

Kurt reached over and turned the volume down on his radio, he turned it on. "Hold your fire," he whispered into the radio.

"Sir, I've got a bead on their officer...," replied Yanson quietly.

"Hold your fire, thats an order. They might just pass us by and go off to the Dart."

Kurt clutched his P-90 with both hands as two of the Wraith warriors now began to walk towards him. He steadied his submachine gun on the closest alien and breathed out slowly. He felt his hands sweat heavily in his gloves. The edge where the gloves met his sleeve steamed from the sweat. Kurt got down slightly lower behind the debris as the two warriors approached him.

Kurt held his breath as they were now just a few feet from him. The large blueish green creatures skin could easily be seen in the cold. There face plates steamed as they breathed in the cold air. Their breathing was loud and seemed labored for the large creatures in the cold night air. Kurt could feel his nose getting runny and he cursed in his head. He started breathing with his mouth as the two creatures looked off into the forest and at the debris of the Puddle Jumper.

The creature to his right stepped forward and began to look at the charred debris. Kurt felt his adreneline kick in and his breathing quickened as the large creature walked towards him looking at the debris. Kurt knew this was going to be it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1522 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The large lumbering warrior moved down the metal of the Puddle Jumper and slowly more towards Kurt. Kurt felt his heart beat heavily in his chest. It felt like it would break through his ribs and land in the snow. Kurt moved his P-90 towards the creature coming his way. The footsteps got closer and closer as he waited for the creature to come to him.

The Wraith reached the end of the debirs and looked down at the human crouching behind it. Its head tilted to the side like a dogs. "Hey," said Kurt looking up at it. He pulled the trigger and the P-90 chattered to life. Bullets spat out of the gun and tore into the chest of the Wraith. It howled in pain as the bullets slammed into his body and shot out blood into the snow behind him. Peices of bone and blood shot out of the bullet holes in its back. The creature stepped back as the bullets continued to hit him, it fell backwards like a stone and landed in the snow.

Kurt traded hands with his P-90 and looked to the other side of the Debris where the other Wraith was. It ran down the side and pointed its weapon at him. Just as it pointed its weapon at him a bullet tore through its skull and impacted its brain. The creature didn't utter a sound as it landed heavily in the snow beside Kurt.

Kurt got to his feet and began to run for the forest as Stunner blasts now shot over his head. They whizzed past and impacted trees and hit snow shooting it up into the air. Ahead of him Yanson fired his P-90 on semi-automatic, a single shot rang out every few seconds as the Wraiths now began to chase Kurt. Kurt looked back and saw the closest of the Wraith lumbering after him. Its large legs dug in and gained ground as he ran from it. A bullet hit it in the leg and the seven foot alien Soldier fell to the snow and did a tumble as the second closest gained ground. Another bullet hit the warrior, but this was in its face as the creature fell to the ground.

Kurt stumbled as a stunner round hit the snow next to his foot and moved his foot away in mid stride. He managed to gain his balance again as the creatures continued to shoot at their prey. The sounds of hissing and stunner fire echoed from behind him as he ran towards Yanson who was shooting continously. The sounds of howling pain came from behind him aswell but were overwhelmed by the sounds of gunshots. Kurt continued to sprint as more and more blasts whizzed over his head and past him.

He jumped over a log and landed in the snow beside Yanson, he looked around not seeing Swenson or Lee. "Wheres the doc and Lee?"

Yanson spoke as Kurt now began to fire at the aliens who were charging for his position. There was only six Wraith left who were still running for them. The two Wraith Kurt had shot were still layed out in the snow back a good seventy feet away from them now. Kurt lined up a Wraith as it came running at him firing its weapon. He pulled the trigger and the gun spat out bullets on full auto, the bullets zoomed through the air at two thousand three hundred and fifty feet per second. They tore into the chest of the Wraith and worked their way up his body in a straight line from his belly to his head. The creature fell and rolled in the snow until it came to a stop in the deep snow.

Yanson tracked a target and fired, the bullet left the gun and raced to its moving target. The bullet hit the Wraith square in the forehead and the Wraith was knocked clean off its feet. The creatures legs shot into the air as it fell and it landed on its back with a loud thud. Snow flew as its legs threw the snow from its boots up into the air.

"What did you say?"

"I said Swenson helped Lee to his feet and their going to the ship. We're supposed to catch up when we can," said Yanson shooting a Wraith in the leg causing it to fall.

"Theres to many and they just keep coming. We need to fall back, I'll cover you," ordered Kurt.

Yanson got up just as a stunner blast hit next to Kurts face. Its blue energy disapated on the tree and Kurt continued to fire. He got to his feet and began to follow Yanson who was a few feet ahead of him. They ran through the forest quickly, they ran past trees and under tree branches as they continued to sprint away from the Aliens. The sounds of tree branches snapping and breaking behind them made Kurt sprint a little harder. Kurt looked back to see several Wraith chasing them through the forest, including the officer.

Kurt jumped over a tree branch and landed in the snow with a soft thump. He stepped on a branch hidden in the snow and it made him stumble but he continued to run. He quickly gained his balance back and continued to run away from certain death. Ahead of him Yanson stopped and turned around. He threw something and began to run again, Kurt sprinted harder away from the grenade, he looked back just to see the bomb blow up and shrapnel tear its way into the Wraith in front. It screetched in pain and fell to the ground.

Kurts breathing was heavy and his legs were beginning to burn from the sprinting. His forehead was covered in sweat that had beaded down from his hair line. He continued to run despite the burning and pain that was being caused by it. Yanson began to slow up ahead of him. They both slowly came to a stop and looked back in the direction the Wraith had been. Nothing moved, there was no sign of the Wraith still chasing them. Kurt took his canteen from his belt and took several gulps. It didn't kill his thirst but it made him feel a little better.

"Do you think they won't keep chasing?"

Kurt shook his head, "Of course they'll keep chasing. They won't let they're food get away, especially after what we just did."

Yanson nodded and looked of in the direction that the Doctor had said the ship was. They both began to walk quickly towards where the ship was supposed to be in the distance.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1548 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

"There will be more, you know," said Swenson looking at Kurt.

He slowly nodded his head and looked up at her, "Yeah I know." Kurt looked in the direction that the Wraith had come from, "they'll want to know how we got that Jumper. But its not gonna come to that," he said looking back in the other direction. "We need to get that shipment and bring it back to Atlantis."

Doctor Swenson nodded and smiled, "and if that ship isn't beaten up to bad. Maybe we can bring it back too."

"Its Possible," said Kurt nodding.

Kurt looked back as they walked towards the ship in the distance. The night seemed to get colder as they walked farther away from the Stargate. Kurts boots dug into the deep snow as he continued to walk behind Yanson, who was carrying Lee over his shoulders. The small Luietenant was dwarfed by the larger Luietenant who carried him. In the lead was Doctor Swenson who was using her scanner to search for the ship.

Kurt turned and looked back in the direction of the Stargate, he watched closely for any more signs of the Wraith who had chased them. He turned around as they started to walk into another forest, there boots crunched into the deep snow as they walked. Swensons scanner glowed in the darkness caused by the forest above.

Yanson stepped over a log, he easily lifted the extra weight of the man he was carrying. "How much farther Doctor?"

She turned around and smiled, "Were almost there."

* * *

The trench was over a hundred feet across and was dug several hundred feet into the ground. Small snow covered trees were scattered randomly in the trench. The trench was scattered with large fragments of the ships hull, they were shredded and bent into unnatural directions. The size of the trench was impressive, thought Kurt. 

He felt a feeling of hope come from down in his gut as he looked up at the large hull of the crashed Ancient Warship. The metal hull of the ship rose up and towered over the four Humans who looked up at it. Its hull was torn and scorched brutally in several spots. It was showing the signs of errosion in several spots dotted along the hull. It also had a few large round holes in several sections, the areas around the holes were scorched and the metal was warped from extreme heat.

"Those are blast marks," said Kurt pointing at a grouping of the holes twenty meters above them.

Swenson scanned them with the grey device and she smiled, "This is, without a doubt, the Nona. Its hull has Wraith laser blasts all over it."

Kurt stepped forward and looked up and down the large ships outside. It stretched over two hundred feet down to his left and down another two hundred feet in the other direction. He saw a large tear in the hull to his left and he began to walk towards it. Parts were scattered around the tear in the hull. Kurt slowly began to walk towards it, "this way."

Kurt reached the hole and turned on his flashlight, he bent his head inside and the raised his P-90. The light peirced the darkness and shone a bright light on the inside wall of the ship. The wall was scorched black, metal wires hung from the ceiling and debris was thrown around the area. Kurt motioned to Swenson and she moved to the other side of the hole with her M9 Beretta drawn, she took out a flashlight and shinned it inside. They both moved in slowly scanning with their weapons. Nothing moved in the darkness as their flashlights cut through the darkness.

Debris dragged its way on the floor under Kurts boot as he walked. He quickly adjusted his footing and the small metal fell from his boot, it clanked lightly against the old metal floor plates. The sounds of the wind whistling against the thick hull gave Kurt a slight shiver as he continued to walk forward down a hallway. Behind him walked Swenson followed closely by Yanson holding Lee. Kurt reached an adjacent corridor and stopped. He put his back against the wall and stepped out with his weapon at the ready.

His flashlight shinned down the empty corridor. Metal was thrown around on the metal floor, scattered in among the debris was the skeleton of someone. Kurt motioned that it was clear and they slowly began to walk down the corridor. Kurt held his weapon at the ready as he walked. He reached the skeleton and looked down at it, the white bones had changed color and were not turning more grey. Lodged deep in its rib cage was a long sharp piece of metal, it was between two ribs on his left side.

"They must of hit the ground hard," said Yanson looking at the skeleton.

"From what this says," said Swenson looking closely at the small grey device she held in her hands. Its blue screen flashed and words in ancient scrolled across it. "The bridge is up three decks and about one hundred and twenty feet that way," she said pointing upward and down the hallway.

Kurt stood for a second thinking, "we'll get there eventually. But first, does that thing say where the medical bay is?"

"Sorry, but its not a library of ancient ships," she said looking up at him frowning.

"Then how do you know where the bridge is?"

"I don't know, it just popped up after we entered the ship," she said rotating it in her hands. "If we find a console, I'm sure I can link up with it and find ships schematics in no time."

Kurt stood for a second, he looked down the hallway into the darkness. His flashlight attached to his gun was pointed downwards at the deck plating. Kurt turned and looked at her, "alright, lets move quickly. We need to find that medical bay as soon as possible."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1621 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The energy crystal fell from her hand and landed on the floor with a loud ping. It bounced and skidded a few centimeteres before coming to a complete stop on the frost covered floor. Her hands were beginning to shake from the chilled air inside the ancient vessel. Swenson quickly bent down and picked up the energy crystal and put it back in its slot. The console remained dark as she closed its insides. She looked at the console for a moment, then pressed several buttons. It remained dark as she pressed another button on the console.

"Whats taking so long, doctor?"

She pressed another button then turned frowning toward Kurt, "Either this console was damaged badly by the crash or theres no power coming to it anymore."

Kurt looked over at Yanson who was now switching his shoulders with Lee on it. "Okay, you get down to engineering and try to power it up. Me and Yanson are gonna go and try to find the medical bay." Kurt paused while talking, he tapped his hand on his sidearm. "Be sure to keep this out at all times. We can't afford to lose you to a Wraith."

"Well its comforting to know that you care," she said smiling.

"Well," said Kurt looking at her smiling. "Me and Yanson don't really know how to fix the gate," replied Kurt.

Swenson smiled and shook her head. "And for a second, I thought you cared," she said with a chuckle as she began to walk down a corridor.

Kurt smiled and began to walk in the other direction, his feet crunched slightly under the frosty floor plates. Behind him walked Yanson carrying Lee, they both walked down the dark cold corridor. Debris was strewn everywhere as they walked, they stumbled onto a few skeletons scattered around the hallways. Each had bad injuries that had smashed several of their bones, moments before death.

They continued walking down the corridor until they reached the end of the hallway. They took a left and continued walking down the ships hallway. Kurt stepped over a large beam that had collapsed in the hallway and continued walking. Wires hung from the ceiling and metal was twisted into random directions. Kurt looked up past the fallen beam and into the deck above them, the ceiling was frost covered just like the ceiling of the deck they were on. The hand of an ancient skeleton stuck out from one side of the hole, it was twisted and several fingers were missing from the old skeleton

Kurt exhaled and looked back down the corridor, his flashlight barely lit up the fairly large corridor. The wall was frost covered and a light shade of grey from fires that had burned here. Kurt continued walking down the corridor as the sound of wind slamming up against the hull of the old space craft. It sent a large creaking sound through the metal walls. They both continued walking down the frosty corridor.

"Sir, this ship looks and sounds, like its really beat up. I think salvaging it is out of the question," said Yanson behind him. His voice echoed down the metal hallway.

Kurt nodded and turned down another hallway, he held his P-90 with one hand using the flashlight to scan the hallway ahead. He continued forward and stepped up and onto a large fallen section of the wall. He walked forward with his gun at the ready, he scanned it back and forth on the wall ahead of him. His standard issue military boots clunked loudly as he walked on the heavy metal section of wall. He walked forward and jumped down off the fallen wall and scanned the hallway up ahead with his guns flashlight.

His flashlight beam sweeped back and forth, it disappeared as the entire corridor lit up. The lights on the ceiling flickered to life and the corridor was fully illuminated by them. Kurt looked up ahead at the hallway ahead of them, it was empty and curved up ahead. He reached down and grabbed his radio, turning it on as he did. "Swenson, did you do that?"

The radio was quiet for a few seconds until the calm voice of the doctor broke through the silence, "I think so. I'm in their engine room and I think I managed to get power to most sections of the ship with their batteries."

Kurt frowned and looked at Yanson. "How do they still have power after so long?"

"I don't know. Most ancient devices seem to be able to keep a charge for a long time, so whats different about this ships power battery?"

Kurt shook his head, "alright. Have you found any schematics yet?"

"I think I have. The schematic shows the ships medical bay to be in the forward compartments on the deck above the one we entered on."

"Alright, meet us there as quick as you can," said Kurt feeling a bit releaved at finding a way to help Lee. Maybe he wouldn't lose another man after all, he thought to himself quietly as they began to walk again in the other direction.

* * *

Kurt crouched down and picked up the small device from the ground. He looked at the round metal machine for a second, then looked over at Swenson. "What do you suppose this is?" 

"Well since were in the medical bay, I assume its something to do with medicine," said Yanson as he layed Lee down on the floor. He pushed a skeleton on the floor away with his boot and looked back up at Kurt.

"No, you think? Thanks for stating the obvious," replied Kurt.

"I'm just saying, sir," he replied with a smile.

Kurt looked from the large man to the doctor, she nodded and took the device from his hand. She looked at it closely before it lit up and lights began to blink different colors on its outside. The bottom of the device glowed yellow and a slight haze could be seen coming from the light. She looked back up at Kurt with a surprised look on her face. "I don't know why it turned on."

"Maybe its reading your thoughts and knows that Lees hurt," said Kurt looking at Lee on the floor. "It doesn't matter, just see if it will work on him."

Doctor Swenson walked over to the where Lee lay on the ground. He was slowly blinking his eyes, and looked up at her as she bent down beside him. She removed the large red stained bandage and brought the device up. She held the device over his bloody leg and the wound began to glow. The skin around the large hole began to seal up and the wound slowly started to close. A small amount of blood leaked out though the sealing wound and pooled on the floor. The wound closed and the device stopped glowing in her hand.

"I can't believe that actually worked," she said looking up at them. "Like the probability of that being used for that was like almost nothing."

"Well, believe it," said Yanson who moved over to Lees side and slowly helped the man to his feet. Lee swayed slightly before finally coming to a steady stance and giving a nod to Yanson.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1636 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The ten thousand year old warship that had formally been called the Nona by its Lantian crew creaked loudly as Kurt walked down a corridor with his P-90 at the ready. His boots clunked loudly as they thudded down on the hard frost covered deck plates. Behind him Lieutenant Yansons heavy footsteps echoed followed by the lighter steps of Lee and Swenson. The corridors bright white lights flickered on and off above them as they continued walking down the hallway.

"Okay, we've been in here for atleast half an hour. Those Wraith are gonna get here soon, we need to find what we came here to get or leave now and bunker down until Doctor Weir tries to contact us," said Swensons voice quietly to the team. Even though her voice was hushed it still echoed down the corridor.

"Well, we don't know if those Wraith brought in any more reinforcements since we attacked them. If they did, theres no way in hell were gonna be able to bunker down," replied Kurt to the team.

Lees voice cut the air, it was loud and echoed loudly. "Then we have to find those ZPMs. Its the only way to get out of here."

Kurt turned and looked back the faces of his team, Yanson stood tall and was still watching down the corridor with cat like eyes that darted back and forth. Yansons blue uniform had a long line of blood that had streamed down it from Lees leg when he had carried him. Lee had a smear of blood on his chin and cheek from the his wound that had been just healed, his face looked tired and the man looked like he could use a rest. Swenson was busy using her scanner, it beeped several times and she looked up at him. Her eyes had a fear full look in them. "I've got ten life signs moving in this direction, they might already be in the ship. I think they're Wraith, this could be bad."

Kurt digested this information and thought about fighting the Wraith in these tight confines. It would be dangerous and might get one of his team killed. He had already thought he was going to lose Lee, he didn't want to have to think like that again. If they hadn't found the ancient sick bay, he might not have made it. That thought made Kurt frown at how close Lees life had come to ending. To many people had already died in this war, so many had died in the seige, and it isn't going to stop anytime soon. He could only do his best to stop as much of it as he could. "Alright, do you know where the cargo hold is?"

Swenson looked up and to the side thoughtfully then gazed back down at him with smile on her small face, "its about a hundred feet more to the aft of the ship."

"Lee, you go with her. Yanson and me will go and try to lure some of those Wraith away. Only get as many as it will take to power the gate, I don't want to stick around. Once we get back, we'll come back with more men and firepower and get the ZPMs," ordered Kurt looking back down the corridor behind him.

* * *

Kurt held his breath as he peered out down the large tattered corridor of the ship, metal was scattered and hanging from the ceiling in several different locations, it was hanging from large wires and conduits that had formally been in the floor. He looked down the corridor and nothing moved, not even the large chunks of metal swayed in the deathly quiet hallway. Kurt leaned up against the wall, he looked at it and it looked as if it had been white once. Its white shade had been dulled by ten thousand years of wind, rain, snow, and sunlight. He looked over to the left a little and saw a giant scorch mark that ran up the wall to a hole in the ceiling.

These guys fought one hell of a battle, he thought to himself. Kurt shook the thoughts running through his head out and looked over to Yanson. He signalled for Yanson to cover him while he moves forward, the large man gave him a silent nod of understanding. Kurt breathed in a large breath and quickly but quietly ran down the hallway to a pile of debris that offered enough cover to hide behind. He motioned for Yanson to move up then he aimed his P-90 down the dark debris filled hallway. He checked his flashlight and made sure it was firmly off, it wouldn't help to have it turn on when they were trying to hide from any Wraith they meet.

Yanson past by him and continued to run quietly down the corridor, he stopped in a doorway and looked back down at Kurt. He nodded and Kurt slowly began to run down the hallway, he caught up and passed by the Lieutenant. Kurt layed down behind a large chunk of a bulkhead and scanned the hallway ahead of them. He turned back to Yanson and motioned for him to move up.

"We've been searching for hours, these humans aren't here," came an echo down the quiet dark corridor.

Kurt turned and waved him back, Yanson stopped midstride and dived behind a chunk of metal. It was barely large enough to cover the large mans broad shoulders but he hid behind it anyways. Kurt frowned and focused on preparing himself for another gunfight. He readied his gun and aimed it down the deathly quiet hallway. As he waited he truely began to feel how tired he was, his body ached from the constant running. His wrists were starting to ache from handling the recoil of his weapon, it shook incredibly despite the technology in it.

The adrenaline surged through his veins as he saw four large creatures walking down the dimly lit corridor. The two Wraith leading the group were warriors in their usual grey armor. They clutched their stunners tightly and Kurt was sure they were searching carefully for any signs of his team. The two Wraith in the back were officers and their coats had a slight shine to them. The one in the back right looked over at the other one in the back, "we can't afford to not search here. We need to find them no matter what. They might know another way to their homeworld and if there is any chance of us catching the survivors from Atlantis, then we cannot give up looking until we've found every last one."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

_Ten Thousand Years Later_

_Year Two of the Expedition, 1656 hours(Atlantis Base Time)_

The Wraith's lips curled into a smile as it looked down the corridor, its face had a layer of slim that glinted in the dim light of the wreckage. It looked from right to left, scanning the area for any signs of the food. The warriors and other officer to his right and left looked around the dark hallways as well.

Kurt held his breathe as he took cover, he watched the Wraith who had spoken a few minutes before. It had moved its way to the front of the pack and was now looking around the hallway with cat like eyes. Its eyes darted back and forth, checking every nook and cranny of the corridor. Kurt lined his P-90 up with the chest of the Wraith officer, he put the red dot in the scope on where the heart of a human would be. He quietly reached forward and switched the safety off, he breathed in and out as quiet as he could.

The Wraith warrior from behind the officer turned its head quickly and looked back down the hallway. Its face plate was moving as it looked back down from where they had come. The second officer who was slightly shorter then the one in the lead, walked forward and looked up at him. He growled slightly, "what are you doing? We can't afford to stop moving, if they get away from us, she will not hesitate to kill us."

The taller officer looked over at him, his lips curling into a snarl, "and if we are not careful, they will kill us. They have already killed some of us today, it is not something I wish to have happen to myself. They may be just prey to you, but you don't know how cunning and vicious they can be when they are trapped."

The shorter Wraith hissed before it turned and walked towards Kurt with heavy footsteps, its face looked as if it was furious at the other Wraiths words. The two large armored warriors moved quickly and caught up to the officer in a few strides. They took up both sides of him as they walked towards Kurt and Yanson: Kurt felt his stomach lurch as he realized how this was going to end. He shifted his scope to the short officer and lined up his forehead, it was wet looking and Kurt felt a feeling of disgust go through him. The tall Wraith did not move to catch up to his three brothers moving down the corridor towards Kurt.

This was it, he had to make a decision. Shoot them and start a gun fight in close quarters, or try to be quiet and hope they didn't see the two humans laying on the floor. Decisions...

Kurt squeezed the trigger and the gun recoiled back into his shoulder, his vest armor stopped him from feeling most of the impact of the submachine gun. The bullets caught the short Wraith officer in the forhead sending his head flying back, his hair and leather coat flew up around him as he fell back to the ground, he landed with a loud _clang!_ that echoed through the corridor.

Yanson's P-90 fired on full auto a split second later, catching one of the Wraith with a full spray of bullets in the chest, it yelled in pain but didn't fall under the impact of the bullets. The bullets peppered up their bodies sending out white sparks from the metal on metal contact, several of the bullets tore through the metal armored plate and black blood spattered out of the wounds. One of the Wraith warroirs cried out in surprise and agony before it fell to the deck plates, the other Wraith warroir raised its stunner and began to randomly shoot off blue orbs of energy down the hallway. The laser lit up the corridor as it flew down the hall and impacted a peice of hanging debris.

The taller officer in the back snapped his head around, to see the last Wraith standing get hit in the chest by a burst of automatic gunfire from Yanson. His lips curled upward in a disgusted, yet satisfied smile before he turned and began to sprint down the hall. His loud heavy footsteps echoed over the echo of the gunfire, he disappeared around a corner at the far end of the corridor.

Kurt quickly to his feet and began to sprint after the Wraith officer who was running. Kurt jumped over the body of the shorter officer whos left eye was replaced with a bullet hole the size of a dollar coin. Kurt landed steadily and continued to sprint as fast as he could after the Wraith officer, if he escaped he would bring back more warriors. Kurt was a stride from one of the downed warroirs when it started to rise to its feet again, he pointed and sprayed with his P-90. At this range it didn't matter if he aimed or not. The bullets spattered black blood on the wall behind the Wraiths head and it fell back to the floor with soft thud.

Kurt let go of his gun with his left hand and started to sprint faster after the Wraith. His adreneline pumped as he reached the end of the hall and rounded the corner, the corridor was empty except for the slight shine of daylight from a large hull breach down the hallway. The Wraiths shining coat could be seen brightly as it sprinted past the light in the hall. Kurt didn't even stop or slow when he rounded the corner, he continued to sprint after him. He could feel the few magazines of ammo he had left patting against his chest. The armor in his black vest was also hitting against his chest, but since it was lighter and made out of a thinner material he didn't care as much.

The Wraith disappeared into the darkness, but Kurt continued to sprint into the dark after him.


End file.
